New US Forest Service Rule Could Speed Up Treatment Of Beetle-Kill Areas

Some public lands with beetle kill in Summit County soon could be fast-tracked for U.S. Forest Service treatment under a new rule.

The federal agency would use the rule to designate land affected by insect and disease epidemics all over the country for expedited review, which would mean less environmental analysis and more required community collaboration.

“Folks have been asking for a long time how can we get this work done faster without undermining some of the environmental safeguards,” said Noah Koerper, Central Mountains regional director for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.

Bennet chairs the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources, which oversees the management of all 193 million acres of public lands controlled by the U.S. Forest Service.

The mountain pine beetle

The mountain pine beetle

The new authority comes from Bennet’s National Forest Insect and Disease Treatment Act, signed into law in February as part of the new Farm Bill, with the goals of reducing wildfire risk to communities and protecting natural resources.